Postmodern Theologies: The Challenge of Religious Diversity

by Terrence W. Tilley

While some might say that theology after the death of God is like biology after the end of life - a discipline without a subject - Postmodern Theologies identifies four general patterns of "postmodernisms" in theology "constructive" theologies (with Helmut Peukert, David Ray Griffin, and David Tracy cited as examples); postmodernisms of "dissolution" (Thomas J. J. Altizer, Mark C. Taylor, and Edith Wyschogrod): postliberal theologies (George Lindbeck); and "communal praxis" (exemplified by Gustavo Gutierrez and other Latin American theologians, and James W. McClendon and Sharon Welch among North Americans). These theologies eschew debates on traditional religious foundations to define true religion as the result of - rather than the impetus to - living one's beliefs.

Genres: Theology

182 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A DIVERSE COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ON ASPECTS OF CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY

Editor Terrence W. Tilley explained in the "Note on Authorship" that precedes this 2005 book, it arose out of a "remarkable seminar" held in 1993 in the Religion Department of Florida State University, with participants from the departments of religion, humanities, and philosophy. Tilley made substantial revisions to the papers presented (which the authors had the chance to approve), and the results are printed herein.

He asks in the Introduction, "a post-age can be stamped with adventure as well as anxiety... How are the theologians stamping the post-age?"

One essay notes that Mark C. Taylor (author of 'Erring: A Postmodern A/theology, After God'), etc.) is a thinker who is "extremely difficult to 'place.'" (Pg. 58) While Taylor rejects the "Christian Atheism" of Thomas J.J. Altizer (author of 'The Gospel of Christian Atheism'), he refuses to be "penned in" by the various categories of modern thought." (Pg. 58)

In Tilley's concluding essay, he divides the contributors into two groups: one group which minimizes or erases the differences among religious traditions by a reductive pluralism; and another group which aspires to inclusivism or universalism, but which refuses to deny the otherness of the "other." (Pg. 167)

While it's not likely that reading this book will enable a reader to say with a satisfied sigh, "Well... NOW I understand postmodern theologies," the essays here can help one get a firmer grasp on this inchoate and still-developing field.